


Honeysuckle and Roses

by Genie_of_the_Fourth_Wall



Category: Kindergarten (Video Games 2017 2019)
Genre: Bee!Cindy, Black Cat!Penny, But if your wondering who Helena is cuz I mention her once, F/M, Fox!Lily, Gen, I make subtle references to my own Kindergarten HCs but it’s not necessary to get the story, Ladybug!Felix, Ladybug!Ted, Me thinking about this AU:, Miraculous Ladybug AU, Multi, Ted and Felix are good brothers, That’s my OC. She’s Cindy’s older sister, Turtle!Nugget, ”...What if we had both?”, ”Ladybug Ted or Ladybug Felix?”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 15:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20910221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genie_of_the_Fourth_Wall/pseuds/Genie_of_the_Fourth_Wall
Summary: Cindy didn’t consider herself a hero. She knew exactly how people saw her, and it wasn’t the prettiest picture. That was just they way things were. But when fate gave her the opportunity... how could she say no?—————Felix didn’t consider himself a hero. Sure, Ted thought of him that way, but it didn’t change the fact that he overall wasn’t a very pleasant person. But could he really just stand by and do nothing, given everything he knew?





	1. Queen (of Nothing)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [felix culpa](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20780672) by [ryukogo (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/ryukogo). 

> Me: Y’know, I should really work on the Growing Up Series
> 
> My Brain: *pounding its fists against the table* MIRACULOUS AU MIRACULOUS AU MIRACULOUS AU-
> 
> So yeah this is inspired by and takes place after Little Keplerette’s lovely Miraculous AU fic “felix culpa” so go read that if you haven’t already. If you have, I hope you enjoy this!

Cindy hummed to herself as she jimmied an old credit card under the bottom to the window. After a bit of finessing, she formed enough of a gap that she could get her fingers underneath the window and slide the whole thing open. She smiled to herself. It wasn’t the first time she had done this, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Mr. Huxley was very particular about the sort of company his sons kept, and he had gotten into his head that Cindy was a “bad influence” on the twins. Perhaps breaking into the Huxley estate on a regular basis supported that idea, but he really left Cindy no choice. She couldn’t just sit by and leave her boyfriend and one of her closest friends all alone in the stuffy mansion they were forced to call home. They deserved a bit of extra company.

She hopped through the window, landing in the first floor’s laundry room. Usually she’d just go straight to one of the twins’ windows on the second floor, but she just got her nails done and didn’t want to risk messing them up while scaling the outer walls. She was no Red Beetle or Yeux Saphir, with the ability look flawless even as they jumped across rooftops and fought villains. She peaked out the door. The coast seemed clear. Cindy made a dash for the stairs. She had almost made it when she suddenly collided with another person. They both hit the ground hard. Cindy was the first up, dusting herself off and offering a hand to the person she ran into.

“Oh my gosh, I’m _so_ sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I was just so excited to see my sweet Felix, since we planned this and all, I’m _totally_ allowed to be here toda- Wait, who the hell are you?”

Cindy knew she couldn’t afford to be rude in this situation, but the sight of an unfamiliar face in the Huxleys’ home really caught her off-guard. He was an older man, one she didn’t recognize as being one of the staff. He seemed to be dressed too casually to be one of Applesoft’s business partners, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and carrying a canvas tote bag. Cindy had frozen in place, her hand still extended. The man took her hand, using it to help pull himself up.

“Thank you, young lady. I’m here to tutor young Theodore. If you would excuse me, I do not want to keep him waiting,” the man said.

With that, he disappeared up the stairs. Cindy bit her lip nervously. She didn’t know if she could trust this guy to not report her. It would probably just be better to abort today’s mission. As she turned to head back towards the laundry room, she felt her foot kick something on the floor. Curious, she crouched down to pick it up. It was a small box, with a strange black and red design. The man must have dropped it when they ran into each other. Cindy looked up the stairs, then back to the box in her hands. She slipped the box into her purse. It wasn’t the best time to return it, she decided. Cindy hurried her way out of the Huxley mansion.

* * *

“I’m really sorry for calling you here, but this seemed like something I should talk to you about directly and I just couldn’t wait until I had enough free time to come visit you.”

“It’s okay, Theodore. I can tell this is an important manner to you. So, you think your brother has what it takes to be a hero?”

“Papillon isn’t working alone anymore. We’re going to need all the help we can get, and I know Felix would make a great Miraculous wielder! He already proved himself when he saved me from being akumatized.”

“I thought you might say that. Which is why... hm?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Ah... ah, no. Nothing is wrong. Theodore, I know you think Felix is a hero, and he but does _he _think he is a hero?”

“Um... I don’t know... he can be a pretty cold person, and he doesn’t forgive himself easily. That’s how father raised us, and he’s had a hard time distancing himself from that stuff.”

“Give it time, then. If he’s the kind of person you say he is, your brother will become the hero he is meant to be, but only when he is ready.”

“Okay... Are you sure nothing’s wrong? You keep looking at your bag.”

“I’m just thinking about an encounter I had earlier. Don’t worry about it, Theodore.”

* * *

Cindy sat on her bed, box in hand. She couldn’t help it. Her curiosity was killing her. It felt like something straight out of a fantasy novel. Sure, that was a bit of a childish sentiment, but nobody else had to know she went poking around in some old man’s belongings looking for magic. Just like nobody else had to know about her little obsession with the local superheroes. She had an image to uphold, after all. Shaking those thoughts away for the moment, she opened the box.

Inside was a beautiful golden hair comb designed to look like a bee. For a moment, nothing happened, and Cindy felt a twinge of disappointment. Then, a small ball of golden light flew out of the comb. It flew circles around Cindy, finally coming to a stop in front of her. There was a small flash, and in front of her floated a squishy bee... thing. Cindy yelped, staring at the creature in shock. She hadn’t expected something like this to actually happen.

“Greetings, my queen. I am Pollen, the kwami of the Bee Miraculous. How may I serve you?”

“Wh-what? Queen?” Cindy stammered.

“You were chosen to be the wielder of the Bee Miraculous. That makes you my queen,” Pollen said. Her formal, matter-of-fact demeanor made the whole situation that much more baffling to Cindy.

“I... Wait, did you say Miraculous? Like, the things that give Red Beetle and Yeux Saphir their powers?”

Pollen paused for a moment, considering the question. “Ah, those must be the names the current Ladybug and Black Cat are going by. I apologize, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten information about the outside world. Yes, you’re exactly right. The Bee Miraculous gives the wielder the power of subjection. The magic words are ‘buzz on’ and ‘buzz off’. For your special power, the word is ‘Venom’. It’s a lot easier to understand from experience. Would you like to give it a try, my queen?”

Cindy could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Should she? She had been planning to hand the box over to one of the twins the next time she saw them so they could return it, but... Well, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun, would it?

“Oh, why the hell not?” Cindy examined the Miraculous, assessing what the best way to wear it would be. Eventually, she settled on a high ponytail, the comb secured at its base. She took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing._

“Pollen, buzz on!”

The transformation washed over her. Cindy felt stronger, more agile. She felt *powerful*. She examined herself in the mirror. She was wearing a skintight suit, just like the rest of the heroes. Hers was a bright yellow, adorned with tasteful black stripes. Her arms and legs were covered in black, forming the illusion of long gloves and boots. Her mask was black, outlined with the same yellow of her suit. Her ponytail was tied up with a long black ribbon, giving the appearance of antennae. The tips of her hair had been dyed black, like a stinger. Cindy grinned. She looked _so awesome_.

She took a good look at her weapon. It was a spinning top, attached to a retractable string much like Red Beetle’s yo-yo. Not as strong of a weapon as Cindy would have hoped, but she supposed it would work decently enough. Now that she thought about it, none of the heroes had weapons in the traditional sense, did they? Cindy glanced at her collection of knives. Tempting, but she didn’t have anything to conveniently carry them in. Her eyes wandered to her bedroom window. Was this a bad idea? Probably. Was Cindy going to do it anyway? _Absolutely_, she thought as she climbed out the window and up to the roof.

Running across rooftops was even more fun than it looked. The wind in her face, the view of the city... it was positively breathtaking. Cindy couldn’t help but let out an exhilarated shout as she cleared a particularly large gap between buildings. She could definitely get used to this, she thought. Suddenly, she found herself surrounded by four figures. She froze like a deer in the headlights. The city’s heroes stared back at her with an almost equal amount of shock.

“Um... guys? I don’t think that’s an akumatized villain...” Yeux Saphir was the first to speak, her almost fluorescent eyes making contact with Cindy’s.

“Are we sure about that?” Honolulu eyed her suspiciously. There was a dangerous look in his eyes that made Cindy uneasy.

“Hey, I’m not a villain! I got a Miraculous, just like you guys,” Cindy protested.

“Really? What’s your name?” Red Beetle asked.

Cindy paused. She hadn’t thought of that yet, to be perfectly honest. Her conversation with Pollen popped into her head. _My queen_. Yeah, that would work.

“Queen Bee,” she finally answered.

“Honolulu doesn’t trust this... _Queen Bee_. This could be a trap,” Honolulu muttered.

Foxglove quietly considered Queen Bee. “Mm, I think she seems pretty legit. After all, there was the whole Rosebug incident a few days ago.”

Queen Bee wasn’t quite sure what that was supposed to mean, but evidently the rest of the superheroes did. Ruby Beetle and Yeux Saphir both blushed hard, and Honolulu smirked in amusement.

“So, uh... what are your powers, Queen Bee?” Saphir stammered, trying to change the subject.

“I haven’t tried it out yet, but from what I could gather, immobilization.”

“Sounds useful! We’d be happy to have you, Queen Bee,” Red Beetle smiled.

“We would?” Honolulu raised an eyebrow. “We don’t even know who she is.”

“Hey, Bugaboy and I didn’t know each other’s identities for the longest time, and we still made a perfectly good pair,” Saphir argued.

“Wait, you all know each other’s identities? I thought you were supposed to keep that a secret?” Queen Bee questioned.

“It’s a long story, but certain circumstances lead to Saphir and I revealing ourselves to the rest of the team. After that, we decided that being transparent with each other was for the best. However, we understand that you may have reservations about sharing your identity. If you think it would compromise your safety or the safety of others, don’t feel pressured to reveal yourself,” Ruby Beetle said gently.

His tone was oddly familiar to Cindy. Which was definitely strange, seeing as how Cindy could probably count the people who would treat her this way on one hand. Then again, she wasn’t Cindy right now. She was Queen Bee. She shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable.

“Is something wrong?” Foxglove asked.

“I’m just... not used to people being so nice to me,” Queen Bee admitted. Sympathy flashed across the faces of the heroes. Clearly, they could relate.

“C’mon. We’ll take you on patrol,” Yeux Saphir said, placing a comforting hand on Queen Bee’s shoulder.

Cindy’s heart skipped a beat. Being part of the superhero team she had looked up to for so long? It was like a dream come true.

_What’s the catch?_

She bit her lip. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to return the box to its rightful owner.

_Liar. Thief._

She looked at the faces of her heroes once more. They looked back at her expectantly, waiting for a response.

Would it really hurt to hold onto the dream a little longer?


	2. Stingers and Thorns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some time has passed...

“Hey!”

From the table outside the cafe, Felix could see Cindy approaching, her hair swishing back and forth as she ran. She was the last of the trio to show up, which was a little odd for her. Still, she seemed to be in high spirits. Buggs sat across from Felix, a cup of coffee in hand (he would insist it was black, but Felix knew Buggs snuck in a couple of sugars when he thought nobody was looking). Cindy smiled as she reached the table, giving both of her partners a peck on the cheek.

“How are my boys doing?” she asked.

“Good,” Felix said.

“Tired,” Buggs said, taking another swig of his coffee.

“Not our fault you aren’t used to waking up before noon,” Cindy scoffed.

“Bite me,” Buggs grumbled.

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Cindy teased, flirtatiously batting her eyelashes.

Felix couldn’t help but smile as he listened to his partners’ banter. It had been a while since they had gone on a date like this. Hell, it had been a while since they had hung out, period. Between school and their personal lives, they had all hit quite a busy spot. Which was why it had taken Felix until now to notice a new development in his girlfriend’s appearance.

“What’s with the ponytail?” Felix asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t a look Cindy wore often, usually choosing to style her hair in either loose curls or twin-tails reminiscent of the pigtails she had when they were younger.

“Just because Helena wears the style better than me doesn’t mean I can’t make it look good, too,” she responded breezily.

“It looks nice. I like the pin,” Buggs chimed in.

“It’s a hair comb, dummy,” Cindy said, rolling her eyes.

Felix took a good look at the new comb sitting in his girlfriend’s hair. It was simple, but pretty, with a lovely silvery-gold finish that complimented the bee design-

Wait a minute.

Felix thought about Queen Bee, the new hero that had just joined the ranks of the Miraculous users. She had been sighted going on patrol with them, and she even had a few akuma attacks under her belt at this point. Not much was known about her, except that she was a girl with a blonde ponytail, soft blue eyes, and an absolutely biting personality.

Goddammit, not this again.

The more Felix thought about the possibility, the more his head hurt. He felt sick, a strange tightness making its way into his chest. He stood up suddenly, startling Cindy and Buggs out of their gentle argument about about the semantics of hair accessories.

“I... I have something I need to attend to. Excuse me.”

“What, you’re just ditching our date?!” Cindy fumed. She glared at Felix, trying to assess what had gotten him into such a twist.

“You look pale. Is something wrong?” Felix could tell Buggs was worried, even if he was trying not to let it show.

“I... just don’t feel good. You two enjoy yourselves.”

With that, Felix left in a hurry.

Cindy bit her lip nervously. She noticed the way he had been staring at her comb. What did he know?

“I’m... going to go powder my nose real quick. I’ll be right back, okay?” Cindy said, darting away from the table.

“...Okay.” Buggs muttered mostly to himself, having been left all alone.

* * *

Felix paced back and forth in his room, ruffling his hair in frustration. Goddammit, he had just found out his own brother was Ruby Beetle, what, like, two weeks ago? And now _Cindy_ was involved. Felix stared down at his hands. He was holding a dried pink flower, preserved in resin. It had been a gift from Cindy when they first started dating. She said she hadn’t even minded visiting her mom that weekend because it meant she got to pick them for him. That memory felt bittersweet, thinking about it now. Ever since the incident with Ted, he had been worried for his brother’s safety, but Cindy was an entirely different beast. Ted had been doing this for months by the time Felix found out his secret identity. Cindy was so new, and Felix knew how reckless she could be, and _oh god what if she got hurt on the job, he couldn’t be there to help her, all he could do is watch as she-_

Felix didn’t know how he managed to hear it, but the faintest flapping sound suddenly caught his attention. He felt his heart nearly stop as he jerked his hand away from the akuma at the last moment. He stumbled backwards. The purplish-black butterfly fluttered towards him, honing in towards the pink flower in his hands.

“Oh, we are _not_ fucking doing this right now,” Felix growled. Dodging the akuma again, he pulled out his cellphone. He was thankful he kept his brother’s number on speed-dial.

“Teddy, I need your help. I’m at home right now, and I’m having a bit of an... insect problem.”

* * *

Cindy stared at herself down in the bathroom mirror. She tried to ignore the way her hands were trembling.

“Am I really that obvious, Pollen?” she murmured.

The kwami watched her owner with concern. “You don’t _know_ that he knows. Maybe he just ate something bad this morning.”

“Y-you’re right... I’m probably just being paranoid... It would be ridiculous for him to think somebody like me would be a superhero.”

“What do you mean, Cindy? I think you’ve been a great hero so far.”

“But I haven’t been! I’m nothing but a liar!” Cindy exclaimed. Pollen stared at her with wide eyes. Cindy sighed. The kwami deserved an explanation. “When I found the Miraculous... the guy who had it was going to see Teddy. He was in their house, I wasn’t supposed to be there. I just ran into him by chance. I- I’m not even meant to be a hero in the first place.”

“Don’t say that!” Pollen exclaimed. Cindy was surprised. Pollen had never raised her voice at her before. “Maybe the guardian didn’t intend for this to happen, but the Miraculous fell into your hands for a reason. Fate brought us together, my queen. I truly believe that.”

Pollen floated up to Cindy, wiping away the girl’s tears. When had she started crying?

“Thanks, Pollen.”

“You’re welcome, my queen.”

Suddenly, Cindy heard some sort of commotion happening outside. In this city, that usually meant one thing. She carefully opened the restroom door, poking her head out to see if she could get a glimpse of the source of the chaos. Anybody who wasn’t fleeing the cafe in terror seemed to be wrapped up in an intense argument with the people at their table. Either that, or they were on fire. In the center of it all was a hulking, smokey figure, holding a golden lighter. He stalked around, as if looking for something.

“Cindy... don’t hide from me... You can’t hide anything from me now...” the figure grumbled.

Cindy’s stomach dropped. _Of course_. She remembered when she had bought Buggs that gold-plated lighter for his birthday a few months ago. Cindy cussed under her breath. Goddammit, this was her fault, wasn’t it? Well, her’s and Felix’s. But that wasn’t important right now.

“Pollen, buzz on!”

* * *

After a fair bit of panic, Ted managed to neutralize the akuma before it had the chance to possess Felix. He promptly deactivated his powers, letting out a sigh of relief. Tikki landed on his shoulder, cautiously watching the twins. Felix collapsed onto edge of his bed, exhausted. Ted sat next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Felix... what’s wrong?”

It broke Felix’s heart a little to hear how damn _worried_ Ted was. He took a deep breath, doing his best to steady his nerves. ”What do you know about Queen Bee?”

Ted blinked, clearly not expecting that question. “Well, uh... not much, really. She’s still pretty new, and she doesn’t really like to talk about herself much. We told her that we would be willing to share our identities with her, but only if it’s mutual. She said she wasn’t interested. She seems really hesitant to reveal her identity, but I’m not entirely sure why.”

“What do you think about her?”

“Well, she’s very... enthusiastic. She takes the job really seriously. Almost too seriously, sometimes. Like she feels like she has to prove herself to us. Still, she’s got a good heart. She has these moments where she let’s down her tough attitude, and she’s really sweet and earnest when she lets herself be,” Ted said.

“Hm, interesting...” Felix muttered to himself.

Ted raised his eyebrow at his brother. “What exactly does this have to do with you almost getting akumatized?”

“I’m ninety-percent sure Queen Bee is Cindy.”

Ted’s eyes widened. He thought about it for a good while. “Mm, yeah, I can see it. What tipped you off?”

“She just started styling her hair in a ponytail, even though she’s never been a big fan of them in the past. Conveniently, it allows her to wear this new hair comb that I’ve never seen before now. After that, the rest of the pieces started falling into place.”

“Geez, I give you my Miraculous for an hour and suddenly you’re unmasking heroes left and right. If only we knew where Papillon’s base was. You’d probably figure them out after a single glance,” Ted joked.

“Don’t tempt me, Teddy,” Felix smirked. The flower in his hands caught his eyes, and he sighed deeply.

“So, you’re worried about her?” Ted prodded.

“...Yeah. Don’t tell her I said that, but I really am. It’s hard enough knowing you’re risking your life out there, but her? She’s so new to this, and I know how she can be. I... I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her.”

“Oh, Felix... I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for her, okay? She’s part of the team. I-”

Ted was cut off by the ringing of his cellphone. Based on the slight red tint of the screen, the call was redirected from his comm device. He frowned as he looked at the caller ID.

“Queen Bee’s calling. She usually isn’t the first to call the team to action. It must be important,” Ted said, giving Felix an apologetic look before picking up. “Hello? Downtown? Okay. I’ll be right over. Do you need me to call the others?” Ted’s frown deepened. “Are you sure? I- okay, okay, I get it. At least let me call Saphir... Thank you. See you soon.”

Ted hung up. He sighed deeply. “There’s an akuma attacking downtown. Queen Bee called me there because I’m the only one who can purify akumas, but she didn’t want the others to come along. She said she has it handled, but something feels off.”

“Downtown...” Felix mused, “That’s where Cindy, Buggs and I met up for our date, but I left early... and if Cindy is Queen Bee...” Felix’s eyes lit up in realization. “Fuck, I think I have an idea of who our villain of the day is.”

“Buggs?” Ted gasped.

“I’m coming with you,” was all Felix said in response.

“Felix, you don’t have any way to protect yourself! You could get hurt!”

“I can’t just stand idly by anymore, Ted. If I do, and something happened to you or Cindy or Buggs or any of the people I care about... I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.” Felix looked his brother dead in the eyes. “I need to do this.”

Ted’s eyes softened. “Felix...”

“I think I might have a solution,” Tikki piped up. The twins turned to her.

“Go on,” Felix said.

“If you two split the Ladybug Miraculous, you should be able to share its power. I’ll admit, it’s not something that I would normally recommend, but I believe the bond between you two is strong enough to make it work.”

“Well?” Felix looked at his twin. Ultimately, the Ladybug Miraculous was Ted’s responsibility. Felix wouldn’t take that away from him.

Ted smiled. He removed one of his earrings, holding it out to Felix. “I trust you. You’re my hero, after all.”

“Thank you.” Felix put on the earring.

Tikki smiled. She could feel the power of the Miraculous flowing evenly between the twins. The energy found the balance it needed to properly support the transformation. It seemed her intuition had been correct.

“Tikki, spots on!” The twins yelled in unison.

* * *

Queen Bee pinched the bridge of her nose, currently regretting all of the decisions that had led up to this moment. If only she had brushed off Felix’s weirdness. If only she had stayed with Buggs. If only she had never become a stupid hero in the first place. If it wasn’t for that, none of this would have happened. She would be having a lovely date, instead of singlehandedly distracting her akumatized boyfriend so he didn’t set people on fire.

Vericious, as he was currently calling himself, attacked through the golden lighter he carried. It shot out magical flames. When it struck someone, if they lied, they would catch on fire. The flames didn’t seem to cause as much physical damage as real fire, but it was enough to cause quite a bit of panic. And the visual indicator of lying had started more than a few arguments around the cafe. Queen Bee was a little worried about facing him head-on, though. She wasn’t sure how corporal he was, and Buggs was already really strong when he _wasn’t_ a possessed super villain.

Finally, after about ten straight minutes of distracting Vericious, Queen Bee saw a blur of red and black in the distance. She sighed in relief as the blurs quickly approached, coming to a stop right in front of her.

“Took you long enough. Probably would’ve been faster if you hadn’t insisted on bringing your girlfriend along-” Queen Bee gaped as she got a good look at the heroes in front of her. Either she was seeing things, or there were _two_ Ruby Beetles in front of her.

“What the fuck.”

“Yeah, that was about my response, too,” Yeux Saphir deadpanned. For someone with the biggest crush on Ruby Beetle in whole damn city, she didn’t seemed thrilled by the fact that her partner had seemingly multiplied.

“Hey, you were the one who insisted that only Ruby Beetle come help you fight the akuma,” one of the boys said. Upon closer inspection, he definitely wasn’t the normal Ruby Beetle. His eyes were a different color, and his hair was parted on the opposite side. The design of his suit was also slightly different, but Queen Bee didn’t exactly have the time to give it a close examination at the moment.

“Um... Queen Bee, this is Rosebug. He stood in for me a while back when I was... unavailable. When I mentioned the situation to him, he insisted on coming,” Ruby Beetle explained sheepishly.

“But... How...?”

“Earrings come in pairs,” Rosebug said dismissively, “Now, I believe we have an akuma to stop?”

“Right. Saphir, you and I will distract him. Bee, sneak up on him and hit him with your Venom. Rosebug, back her up,” Red Beetle said.

“The akuma’s in the lighter. I’m sure of it,” Queen Bee said.

Ruby Beetle and Yeux Saphir nodded, jumping into the villain’s line of sight to grab his attention. Queen Bee narrowed her eyes at Rosebug.

“You better not hold me back,” she growled.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, your majesty,” Rosebug smirked.

Queen Bee did her best to ignore the infuriatingly teasing tone of her new teammate. She watched the battle between Vericious and the heroes closely. He seemed sufficiently distracted, especially since Papillon probably ordered him to focus on taking the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses. Now would be the best time to strike.

“Venom!”

Queen Bee could feel the power concentrate in her top. Vericious had his back turned to her. She pounced... only for her hand to go right through him. Her momentum sent her stumbling forward, straight through the villain. He grinned down at her.

“How about you tell me who you really are?”

He aimed the lighter towards her. Just as he shot out a stream of flame, Queen Bee felt something wrap around her body and pull her away. Strong arms caught her before she slammed into her rescuer’s chest. She could see the worry in Rosebug’s eyes as he held her at less than an arm’s length.

“Are you okay?” he asked. For once, he actually sounded genuine. Cindy’s heart skipped a beat. She stepped away, doing her best to brush him off.

“I’m fine. You’re lucky I didn’t accidentally sting you.”

“Okay, looks like we’re going to need a bit of an extra edge to win this battle. Lucky Charm!” Ruby Beetle triggered his power.

His yo-yo produced a small propeller blade. He looked around, trying to figure out how to utilize the Lucky Charm. He frowned, seemingly unable to spot anything. Meanwhile, Queen Bee and Rosebug ducked inside the cafe for cover. Rosebug started scouring through the place.

“What are you doing?” Queen Bee asked.

“Looking for a way to make that Lucky Charm useful... Ah ha!”

Rosebug pulled out an electric hand mixer and a small dowel rod from the kitchen. He removed the whisk attachments from the mixer, then dashed outside. Queen Bee followed.

“Ruby, catch!”

Ruby’s eyes lit up as he caught the items. He quickly assembled an electric fan from the three items, then pointed it at Vericious. When the villian tried to shoot flames at Ruby Beetle, the air current pushed them away from the hero. As Ruby Beetle got closer, the wind started to distort Vericious’s smoky form. Ruby Beetle grinned.

“Saphir, now!”

“You got it, Bugaboy. Cataclysm!”

With Vericious struggling to hold form and the fire redirected, Yeux Saphir could easily reach the lighter and destroy it. The akuma flew out of the fragments of the lighter. Rosebug threw his yo-yo towards the akuma, capturing it. He released the purified butterfly, smiling softly as it flew off into the distance.

“What, too good for my catchphrases?” Ruby Beetle teased.

“If you want to say those foolish one-liners, be my guest,” Rosebug responded. There wasn’t any bite to his words, and Ruby Beetle simply smiled.

“I think I will. Miraculous Ladybug!” Ruby Beetle tossed the makeshift fan into the air, sending out the healing wave of ladybugs to clear up the destruction.

Buggs sat on the ground, rubbing his head as he stared at the heroes in confusion. Ruby Beetle and Yeux Saphir were going through their usual post-battle routine, but Queen Bee didn’t care about that. She rushed to scoop up the lighter that had fallen nearby. She held it out to Buggs.

“Here. This is yours.”

“What... happened?” Buggs asked, taking the lighter.

“You were akumatized,” Rosebug spoke up from behind Queen Bee. She jumped slightly. She hadn’t noticed he had followed her.

“Shit, really? I can’t believe my dumb anxiety got the better of me,” Buggs muttered.

“Hey, don’t say things like that. Your feelings are perfectly valid,” Queen Bee said. It was something she was very used to telling Buggs, but usually it was at two in the morning over text and not while she was disguised as a superhero.

“I shouldn’t mistrust my... _friends_ like that, though... I know they’d never hate me, but sometimes it’s hard to convince myself of that,” Buggs confessed.

“I’m sure they be more than willing to talk things out with you,” Rosebug said gently.

“Mmhm...” Buggs hummed in agreement.

Cindy had to desperately resist the urge to pull Buggs into a tight hug. Instead, she backed away, turning to the other heroes.

“Okay, well, I’m gonna transform back soon, but... I want to meet up later. With the whole team. I... I have some things I want to talk about,” Queen Bee said.

“Of course!” Ruby Beetle nodded. For some reason, he seemed overjoyed by her words.

“Thanks.”

With that, Cindy swiftly departed. She detransformed in the nearest empty alleyway. Slipping Pollen into her purse so the kwami could rest, she ran as fast as she could towards the cafe. She tackled Buggs with all of her might.

“I’m so, so, _so_ sorry!” she cried, burying her face into her boyfriend’s chest. She could feel her tears soaking into his shirt, but she didn’t care. Buggs pulled her close, gripping her tightly.

“Are you two okay?”

Cindy whipped her head up in surprise. Surely enough, Felix was making his way towards the pair. He was out of breath and visibly frazzled, but for once he didn’t seem to mind.

“I thought you went home,” Buggs said.

“As soon as I heard what was happening, I rushed over here as soon as possible,” Felix explained, “If something happened to you two because of me...”

“You didn’t have to do that. It wasn’t your fault,” Buggs muttered.

“I shouldn’t have ditched you two like that, especially without explanation. It’s... a complicated situation, but just know that I’m not upset at either of you, okay?”

“Yeah, it’s my fault too. I let Felix’s weirdness get to me and I didn’t even consider how you would feel to be left all alone,” Cindy said.

“You guys...” Tears pricking the corners of Buggs’s eyes. He grinned as he pulled both of them into a group hug.

“Don’t get all mushy on me, now,” he teased. Cindy and Felix smiled. The message came across as clear as day to them. _Thank you for being here for me._

* * *

Queen Bee landed on the rooftop, steeling herself for what was to come. Ruby Beetle, Rosebug, and Yeux Saphir had already arrived. Ruby Beetle waved at her, friendly as always. Yeux Saphir was draped across her partner’s lap, and also greeted Queen Bee with a kind smile. Rosebug gave her a simple greeting, but he seemed happy that she was there. The four of them made conversation about that day’s battle. It almost let Cindy forget the reason she called them all here.

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Foxglove and Honolulu. Foxglove gaped at Rosebug in surprise.

“F-er, Rosebug?! What are you doing here? I mean, I had heard the news about two Ruby Beetles being on the scene of today’s akuma attack, but I didn’t think...”

“I want to fight alongside you all,” Rosebug said, “I know I’m not much of the hero type, but I can’t just sit back and watch after everything that’s happened. Please, let me join you.”

“Is that humility Honolulu hears? Have pigs started to fly?” Honolulu snarked.

“Don’t push it, turtle boy.” Rosebug’s face turned almost as bright red as his suit. He turned to Queen Bee, looking for a distraction. “You’re the one who called us here. I believe you have something to say?”

“Yeah, I- I have a lot of things to say, actually. But in order to start that story... Pollen, buzz off.”

Cindy stared at the ground as her transformation fell. She couldn’t bring herself to look the heroes in the eye. Would they be disappointed? For a moment, everything was quiet. Then...

“Called it!” Rosebug laughed. Cindy looked up at him in surprise. He exchanged a look with Ruby Beetle, who nodded. “Tikki, spots off.”

Their transformations released simultaneously. Cindy supposed that made sense, seeing as how they were sharing one Miraculous. She stared in shock at the very familiar pair twins standing in front of her. Teddy gave her a friendly, if bashful, smile. Felix smirked.

“Hello, love,” he said smoothly.

“What. The. Fuck.”

“Trust me, it gets weirder,” he laughed.

“Me next! Plagg, claws in!” Penny was absolutely beaming. “Oh, Cindy, I’m so proud of you!”

Cindy couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s enthusiasm. “Only you could say something like that without sounding patronizing, Penny.”

“Wayzz, shell off.”

Cindy raised her eyebrow at Nugget. “Okay, yeah, I see what you mean about it getting weirder.”

“Nugget chooses to ignore that comment. Nugget is not exactly thrilled at this development, either.”

Cindy flinched. Nugget still held a grudge against Cindy for the way she used to bully his girlfriend. It was stuff like that that made Cindy so hesitant to reveal her identity. She turned to Foxglove. She was the last to detransform. Realizing this, she shrunk back. She seemed hesitant for some reason. Nugget wrapped one of his arms around her. He murmured something comforting in her ear. She nodded.

“Trixx, let’s rest.”

Of _course_ Foxglove had to be Lily. That was just Cindy’s luck, wasn’t it? So much for being accepted by the team. Cindy averted her eyes. Lily shrunk back further. Neither of them spoke. An awkward silence hung in air. Ted cleared his throat.

“Um, so, what else did you want to tell us?”

“The truth is, I got my Miraculous by mistake. I know I should have returned it, but... being a hero felt so _nice_. I could be someone new, someone _better_, without any judgement. But... I don’t deserve to be a hero. I know that. Teddy, I think this belongs to you. Or your tutor. Something like that.”

Cindy removed the Miraculous from her hair, holding it out to Ted. He stared at the hair comb in confusion. Then, something seemed to click. “You broke into our house again, didn’t you? So that encounter the guardian was talking about... that was you!” Ted smiled. “I like being Ruby Beetle. I’m not going to give up on it so easily. I believe the guardian meant for me to give the Bee Miraculous to Felix, but...”

“It suits you, honeysuckle. I’ve gotten to watch you fight up close and personal. I think you were made for this,” Felix said, “Besides, red is much more my color, don’t you think?”

“You? In yellow? Yeah, no,” Cindy snorted.

“I think you make a great hero, Cindy. Of course, we are a team, so...” Penny turned to Nugget and Lily.

“Nugget believes the guardian made a mistake. As guardian in training, Nugget says-“

“I think we should give her a chance, Nugget,” Lily cut him off. He looked at her, surprised.

“What?! Has the pretty Lily forgotten-“

“Of course I haven’t. How could I? But I think it’s about time we put the past in the past.”

Lily held out her hand. “Welcome to the team, Cindy.”

Cindy took the hand gratefully. “Thank you, Lily. It means a lot.”

Nugget sighed. “Nugget will talk to the guardian about this...”

The tension was broken, and the group devolved into small talk. Ted watched the team, smiling widely.

“So, looks like our team has expanded to six,” Ted said.

Penny giggled. “Yeah. So much different from the days when it was just the two of us, huh?”

Ted slipped his hand into hers. “I like it better this way, personally.”

Penny smiled at her boyfriend, her partner. She watched as her closest friends, her teammates, bantered with each other.

“Me too.”


End file.
